BMW Art Car: M3 GT2 by Jeff Koons

Yesterday, at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, was presented the BMW M3 GT2 created by the artist Jeff Koons, seventeenth model included in the “Art Car Design” sponsored by the Bavarian manufacturer.

“The M3 GT2 car is powerful and full of energy. I wanted to decorate it trying to express power and movement, inspired by the graphics used in cars of the past,” said the 55-year-old artist, author of works inspired by the kitsch. The artist even got to experience BMW at Sebring, joining American squad Rahal Letterman Racing for a testing session at the Floridian track, watching from a historic BMWM1 chase car, as well as driving an M3 coupe around the track himself.

The BMW M3 GT2 Art Car will be deployed at the start of the next 24 Hours of Le Mans (12-13 June), driven by Andy Priaulx, Dirk Muller and Dirk Werner.

Jeff Koons (born January 21, 1955) is an American artist known for his giant reproductions of banal objects such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces, often brightly colored. Koons‘ work has sold for substantial sums including at least one world record auction price for a work by a living artist. Critics are sharply divided in their views of Koons. Some view his work as pioneering and of major art-historical importance. Others dismiss his work as kitsch: crass and based on cynical self-merchandising.